Artist Chuck Close. He's been called "the most methodical artist that has ever lived in America" and the "reigning portraitist of the Information Age." He creates jumbo size faces on canvas (8 or 9 feet high), copying them from photographs. They are painted in a dotted faux pointillist style. In 1989 Close suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed from the neck down, gaining partial use of his hand with a brace, he learned to paint all over again. There's currently a retrospective of his work exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Prophet has described his new album, Temple Beautiful, as a "love letter to San Francisco." Rock critic Ken Tucker says you don't have to be a Bay Area native to enjoy Prophet's melodies.
Rock historian Ed Ward looks at Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famer Chuck Berry and the career that made him a star. Berry's entire record output from the 1950s was recently released on a four-disc set from Hip-O-Select titled, Johnny B. Goode: His Complete '50s Chess Recordings.
Cleaver, one of the leaders of Wussy, sings about joy, pain, sorrow and regret on Send Aid. The resulting album stands with the best of anything Cleaver has ever done.
Mead hooks the listener, eager to show us the bleak side of what seemed like a bright scenario. That's the way he operates during much of Free State Serenade.
The legendary aviator, who died Dec. 7, served as a fighter pilot in World War II. Later, as a test pilot, he was the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. Originally broadcast in 1988.
Film director Andrew Davis. Davis' string of action-thriller hits include last year's "Under Siege" with Steven Segal and a Chuck Norris picture "Code of Silence". His latest film is a remake of a TV series from the 1960's "The Fugitive" starring Harrison Ford. Davis' Hollywood credentials belie his journalistic background: he began his film career as an assistant cameraman to Haskell Wexler on "Medium Cool" which was filmed during and uses footage of the chaos of the 1968 Democratic Convention.
Playwright, Actor and Director Sam Shepard talks about how he got started in theater. Shepard won a Pulitzer for his play "Buried Child" and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Chuck Yeager in "The Right Stuff." Shepard stars in the new film "The Only Thrill."
Chuck Barris is the creator and producer of over a dozen television game shows, including "The Gong Show," "The Newlywed Game," and "The Dating Game." He gained his reputation as the "manic" host of "The Gong Show."
Due to the contractual nature of the Fresh Air Archive, segments must be at least 6 months old to be considered part of the archive. To listen to segments that aired within the last 6 months, please click the blue off-site button to visit the Fresh Air page on NPR.org.
In addition to his kung fu and action films, Norris, who died March 19, starred in the TV show Walker, Texas Ranger. He spoke with Terry Gross in 1988 about learning karate while stationed in Korea.
Known for his giant hyper-realist paintings of faces, Close kept painting even after a stroke left him partially paralyzed. Close died Aug. 19. Originally broadcast in 1998.
Actress Linda Lovelace discusses her terrifying history of sexual abuse, assault and exploitation--often at the hands of her ex-husband Chuck Traynor--which led to her to star in pornographic films like the iconic Deep Throat. Her new memoir is called Ordeal.
Ed Ward profiles Chuck Willis, who helped lay the groundwork for soul music. Despite his success as a songwriter, performer and recording artist, Willis was a secret alcoholic. He died at 30.
Chuck Jones, creator of the cartoon characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and many others for Warner Bros., died Friday at the age of 89. His career in animation lasted nearly 70 years. Fresh Air remembers him with a 1989 interview.
Legendary blues and rock pianist Johnnie Johnson died Wednesday in St. Louis. He was 80 years old. For more than 20 years, Johnson was Chuck Berry's pianist. He played on all of Berry's greatest hits, and he gained rock-and-roll immortality when Berry wrote the song "Johnny B. Goode" about him. (Originally aired July 31, 1991)
Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck have recently been revived in the podcast, "Bugs and Daffy's Thanksgiving Adventure." We mark the occasion by listening to our 1989 interview with Jones, who died in 2022.
John Hargrove says he left SeaWorld after seeing "devastating effects of captivity" on orcas. His new book is Beneath The Surface. SeaWorld's Christopher Dold says such criticism is "unfounded."
Photographer Bob Gruen spent decades capturing the lives and performances of rock stars of the '60s, '70s and '80s, including John Lennon, the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Tina Turner — and many more. Gruen put in many hours backstage, in studios and on the road, sometimes doing drugs and drinking until dawn with his subjects.
